Sometimes Never
by Miss Eriks
Summary: Meryl, in her hotel room, can only guess at the events in the street. Wow. I was morbid when I wrote this. There is an explination, though. Two words: Math. Class.


Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun or any of the characters 

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun or any of the characters. Wonderful Japanese men who we have all have to bow down to do.

Author's Note: Ok. I write a lot of angst. And I mean, _a lot of angst_. That's just about all I write. My friend Tenshi thinks I'm very odd for this. So, one day in math class, I was so extremely board. I thought to myself, I want to write something. But what? I know! How about a story that will really bother Tenshi?! So I thought and thought and came up with this. I showed it to her, and sure enough, she gets through the first page and yells, This is pathetic!!! ^____^ I achieved my aims!

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Sometimes Never

What was taking them so long? Did it really take _that_ _long_ to get to the grocery store down the street?

Meryl bounced her foot to use up some nervous energy as she sat at her typewriter, trying to write her report. She'd sent in the last one yesterday, but was writing another one for lack of something better to do. 

Milly had been heading to the store to pick up something for dinner (and some pudding), and asked if Vash and Meryl wanted to come along. He'd accepted, but she'd shrugged off, saying she was tired. She wasn't, really, but she didn't feel like walking to the store. After they'd left, she'd started to straighten up the hotel room that she and Milly shared. Noticing that they were out of coffee, Meryl had shouted out the window after Vash, telling him to pick up some more. Milly and he had already reached the little store about half a block away, but Vash had acknowledged her with a grin and a wave before entering the store. Meryl had pulled her head in the window and puttered around the room, at a loss of something to do.

Now she sat staring at the blank paper cranked in her typewriter. It wasn't really _blank_. Meryl had typed her name, her case, and the date, the usual report heading. Next was a sentence or two describing where they were, the small town of Bishop. But the rest of the paper was empty.

Suddenly Meryl heard footsteps in the hall outside the door. It was Milly, judging by the way the steps managed to sound heavy and light at the same time. She seemed to be hurrying, and Meryl didn't hear the telltale hollow thud of Vash's boots on the wooden floor.

Milly burst into the room, alone and clutching a pack of pudding. She was white and breathing hard. Meryl had looked over when the door opened, and now, seeing her friend in such a state of panic, jumped up.

"Milly! What is it?"

Milly previously had been staring straight ahead, eyes unfocused, but at the short girl's words she seemed to snap back into this world. She looked at the tiny agent with panicked eyes.

"Senpai." She said, her voice shaking, "Mr.Vash and I… we were in the store, and… and they came in behind us. One of them hit me…" Here the big girl put a hand to her cheek, where Meryl could see a bruise was forming. "And… and… Mr.Vash told me to run, to come back to you. And… and I… I just ran." Milly dropped the pudding, lurched forward, and hugged the small girl to her.

"Milly! Wha…? Huh? Where's Vash? Are you all right?!"

The big agent squeezed Meryl once more and let go, nodding. She opened her mouth, possibly to explain more, but she never got the chance. From the street cam a sound that, to the girls, signaled their apocalypse.

Gunfire.

Lots of it.

Meryl stood stock still, finally realizing what Milly had been trying to tell her. Ice took control of her stomach, spreading to the rest of her body, anchoring her feet to the floor and her hands to her sides. 

No. This wasn't happening. No. No!

A little voice in the back of her head was trying to reason with her, arguing that Vash goes through this all the time, that he'll be fine, but Meryl wasn't buying it.

Milly had crept to the window, and was cautiously trying to see down the street.

Just as suddenly as the gunshots started, they stopped. The voice in the back of Meryl's head breathed a sigh of relief, but Meryl must have gasped audibly, because Milly glanced at her over her shoulder.

After what was probably only a few seconds but felt like eons, the screaming silence in the street was broken by a new sound, a sound more terrible to the women in the room than the gunshots.

Cheering.

Milly let out a sort of strangled sob, but Meryl's feelings were on the other end of the scale. She felt sick. Sick and angry. Her fist thoughts were that she had to get out there, had to help Vash. She had actually taken several steps toward the closet where her cape concealing fifty derringers hung, but a nauseating gut feeling stopped her.

"Meryl." Milly said from her post by the window. At least she assumed it was Milly. She was the only other one in the room, but it didn't sound like her. The girl's voice was heavy, dead.

Meryl turned to her. Milly was no longer shaking, but had turned even paler.

"Meryl," she said again, taking a step toward the dark-haired girl, shielding from her the view of the window. "Don't."

Looking into the big girl's pained eyes, Meryl understood. She understood what Milly had had to witness. She understood that there was no reason for her to go out there. There was no reason for her to leave the room.

This time it was Meryl's turn to stare, eyes unfocused. Her balance wavered slightly, causing Milly alarm that she would faint.

Stepping forward, she gently directed her Senpai to the desk chair and pressed on her should, silently telling her to sit. Meryl did so, and with tears silently coursing down her cheeks, listened to the racket still going on outside. Each happy shout and whistle cut her like a thousand steel knives.

Slowly, she turned her head to look at the typewriter before her. Equally lethargic, she raised one leaden hand and clumsily typed the rest of the report.

__

After an incident with bounty hunters in Bishop, the man known as Vash the Stampede is dead. My associate and I will be returning to the office shortly.


End file.
